Better Late than Never

Wow, how quickly time flys! I can't believe we are in Canada, again! Before talking about that we have some catching up to do.

Chloe and I decided to go through Wisconsin and blaze our own trail instead of following the ACA (Adventure Cycling Association) route. Our first stop was in La Crosse, where we were fortunate enough to have a host for the night. Ed was wonderful, he even met us out on the trail and bicycled back to his house for a 40 mile ride! Ed is planning to finish the Northern Tier Route later this summer, Go Ed Go! We were so happy to have a nice air-conditioned place to rest our tired bodies. Ed even treated us to pizza for dinner!

Once again we were quite slow in the morning leaving the comforts of a nice house, our departure time: 12:00 p.m., no big deal. Ed helped us plan a safe route to our next destination and through Wisconsin. We decided to take mostly rail-trails, which are old rail road track lines that have been "paved" (more like covered with dirt) over and turned into convenient trails. We were happy to take a safer route and be off the road for a while. This day in particular, the sun was beaming more brightly on our faces than usual. As a way to cope for the extreme heat, and in addition to the normal sun block routine, we thought we would try something different to cool ourselves while riding. I think we took the "sun's out, gun's" method a little too far. To say the least, Chloe and I have been lathering the aloe vera on for the past few days and have suffered what I think, is the worst sun burn I have ever had. Lesson learned: fewer layers are not better, but the lack of such will make cars more aware of your presence on the road...bit of a catch 22.

We made it to Sparta WI where we stopped for a bite to eat. The temperature was 102 degrees. Gross.

The funnest part of the day was traveling on the Elroy-Sparta State Trail. The trail is 32 miles in length and runs on the abandoned Chicago & North Western Railroad bed. It passes through three limestone rock tunnels, the Kendall and Wilton tunnels are 1/4 mile long and the Norwalk tunnel is 3/4 mile long. The temperatures changed and became cooler the closer we got to the tunnels. It was a nice repreve from the hot heat! The tunnels were pitch black and we needed our headlamps to get through them. Both Chloe and I felt like Alice in Wonderland spinning down a rabbit hole, the tunnels were so dark you could barely make out any light at the end, I experienced complete "tunnel vision".

We made a friend, Andrew, and rode with him for the rest of the day. We all camped together in

A small town, the name escapes my memory. After riding together for another day we parted ways. Chloe and I headed for Madison. We had some difficulty finding our way through Madison, which was a quaint college town, but we finally found our warm shower for the night with a Madison local, Abbey. She was so much fun and very energetic about cycling.

Bound for Milwaukee the next day was much harder than we had anticipated due to the heat and humidity. We had a little trouble navigating our way out of Madison as we were in search for a new butane/propane fuel canister. We were not lost, simply turned around. Somehow in search for REI we ended up outside of a Home Depot instead. Of course, no luck. The fuel canisters are hard to come by and we only find them in specialty outdoor stores. Anyway, that's where I met Tim. He was curious about what we were doing and stopped me to chat for a minute. The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me. Even when it is just a word of encouragement, it makes all the difference to us. Tim was so excited about our adventure, without knowing me he said he was proud of what Chloe and I were doing! It put a smile on my face and left me feeling uplifted. We finally found our way out of Madison and looked up yet another warm showers host for the night and found the lovely Marty and Dave. We had been keeping in contact with Marty the whole day with our whereabouts and our ETA. Well by the time 5 o'clock rolled around we were still 40 miles away. We started up at a slow pace and after some quick calculations I turned to Chloe and said that we need to pick up the pace. Well she was on the same brainwave because not long after I said that she popped in those earbuds and didn't stop spinning the lightening legs until we pulled up Marty's driveway at 9 o'clock. Marty and Dave were phenomenal hosts! They are very familiar with touring and have done a handful of tours themselves. So it was like second nature for Marty to help us plan out our route through Michigan to see our family because she had been through there already. We are so grateful for their hospitality and wish them well on their future tours they'll undertake...hopefully an international one!

How many people can say they spent the 4th of July in two states? Well I'm sure a lot actually, but that's what Hannah and I did! We left Marty and Dave's around 5 in the afternoon to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan, but not before we had homemade waffles for breakfast, and a grilled cheese and falafel for lunch. Riding to the ferry was such a fun experience. We were weaving our way through Milwaukee's summer music festival so we got an earful. We fell asleep once we were on the ferry. But the closer we got to Muskegon, MI the louder the "boom" of fireworks became. It was a spectacular scene biking through the night with the firworks lighting up the sky. But as soon as the grand finale was over the sidewalks and streets became cluttered with people. We dodged our way through looking for our campground but of course we got "turned around" and had to stop at a McD's to utilize their wi-fi. We thankfully made it to the Wolf Lake Campground (which we found out in the morning wasn't anything but a petting zoo) at one in the morning. Before going to sleep I asked Chloe..."what if we just rode like this the rest of the time, you know at night, without any traffic and cooler temperatures?" she didn't find that very amusing.

From Muskegon we went to Saranac where we met Maggie, Matthew, and their family at the local Baptist Church. We were looking for a place to stay and escape the heat when they so kindly offered up their place to house us. We made dinner at the Church and waited for them to complete their decorating for their sisters surprise birthday party...we hope it was a success! Unfortunately the hour grew late and with a hundred mile day ahead of us we decided to pitch camp behind the church and call it a night.

Our earliest morning yet, we were on the bicycles at 6:00 in the morning! It was nice to see the sun rise and we were quiet for the first 30 miles into St. John. We stopped for a quick bite at the local cafe and soon after were on our way to see Cousin Diane, Michael, Tessie, and Eliza. The heat was the worst we rode through. We didn't break for almost 4 hours that day and when we finally stopped for lunch it was 105 degrees outside, we had 20 miles left. Luckily we found a place to quench our thirst with a rootbeer float! We had a wonderful time with our family and spent the rest of the day cooling off in the lake with a picnic. We are so grateful for the hospitality of our new friends Michelle (Tattoo Barbie), Scott (Ken), and their children. They were so welcoming and their excitement for roller derby was contagious! We spent the night laughing, eating pizza, and catching up.

The next day we went to meet our Uncle Warren and Aunt Martha in Algonac, MI. Another hot day to say the least, but the ride wasn't terrible. We were greeted with love and a lake front view of the St. Claire canal was a sight to see! We enjoyed swimming in the water, and Aunt Martha did not stop feeding us the whole time. Talking with family is so nice and the visit was encouraging to our spirits. We were definitely happy to be taking a day of rest in the comforts of their home. It is amazing what a nice bed, clean clothes, and a full belly can do for you!

Before leaving Uncle Warren and Aunt Martha we snapped a few photos and waved goodbye from the Marine City Ferry where we crossed into Canada with our new cycling buds, Brian and John. We were happy to have some new company, the boys are from San Francisco CA, (hippies). They are cycling to raise money for a Clean Water Charity which provides clean water to third world countries. So far, they have raised $3,000. We enjoyed the rest of the day riding and sharing stories about our experiences on the road. The four of us arrived in Summer's Place Campground where we set up camp and had an ice cream to top off the day. 

Our adventure continues through Canada, next stop Niagra Falls! 

-Hannah

P.S We will update more often from here on, I promise!

Thanks for all of your support and patience!

Half Way There...Livin' On a Prayer

As we hit our halfway mark, Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi was the tune that we sang a capella since neither one of us has the classic on our iPods. Let's look at some stats shall we:

• Miles traveled: 2,240
• States/Countries: Washington, Canada, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin
• Days on the bike: 42
• Number of flat tires: Hannah-5, Chloe-0
• Number of broken spokes: Hannah-0, Chloe-1
• Jars of Peanut Butter: 7, Papa Rice helped us with two of those.
• Tubes of Butt Butt'r: 1...why bother anymore.
• Number of ice cream cones: 42...that's one for each.

We didn't leave the comforts of Jan and Jen's house until around 3 o'clock. I tell you what, these late days are starting to become a bad habit. We had a good reason this time though, I promise it wasn't because of food either.

We have to go back a couple of weeks to Shelby, MT...Hannah and I spent around five hours in a library there proof reading, formatting, and correcting resumes, cover letters, and pieces of original work. Why on Earth would we be doing this? Not for sheer pleasure that's for sure. Hannah was recommended to a job opening on the Sustainability Committee at Weber State University, a perfect fit for what she has been looking for. So we worked (I say 'we' but I mean mostly Hannah, I was just the proof reader. I ended up reading, napping, and walking around town in search for goodies...none were found.) all day until our brains hurt and our vision was blurred from the constant stare at a computer screen. She finally sent in the application and we hoped for the best. A little less than a week later Hannah got a phone call from an unfamiliar 801 number. Turns out they were very impressed with her application and scheduled an over the phone interview in a week at 1 o'clock. She couldn't have been more ecstatic and thrilled...until she realized she wouldn't be able to make the person-to-person impression she had hoped for. However, she took this opportunity to prepare so that she could be just as impressionable over the phone as she is in person. Which, for me, meant more napping, reading, and roaming around town.

We tried to plan to be in a quiet place with adequate cell phone service for her interview. That place just so happened to be Jan and Jen's house. Jan and Jen were so kind to leave their house open for us when they left for work and it was sad saying good bye. When one o'clock rolled around and Hannah had yet to receive a phone call we couldn't help but wonder what the hold up was. Duh...they meant one o'clock Utah time, not Minnesota time. I know I'm biased but I personally think Hannah nailed the interview and the questions she was asked weren't easy. What does sustainability mean to you? Uhh...what? They said they'd call back in a few days with their decision. After the interview we quickly finished packing and cranked out 60+ miles to Don's Bycicle Bunkhouse .

Since that movie he has added a kitchen and two fridges filled with all kinds of goodies including homemade strawberry preserves! You can guess where Hannah and I spent most of our time. It was a real treat to stay at Don's and we highly recommend staying there if you're in the area. He has so many maps and knows about a lot of bike routes throughout Minnesota that he helped us figure out the way we should take into Minneapolis. "Are you early risers?" Don asked, we glanced at each other and replied "yeah...we usually try to head out around 8:30/9." he said "well okay I'll see you then and get a picture before you leave". Well to have the luxury of a T.V., two stocked refrigerators, and a comfy bunk, we didn't end up going to bed until 1 a.m. Don checked on us twice the next morning hoping he didn't miss us and each time he found a dark room with one of us in the bunk and the other in the recliner. Why Hannah chooses to sleep on a couch instead of a real bed is beyond me, but if you know Hannah you know this isn't an uncommon thing. That chica can fall asleep anywhere.

We finally woke up at 9 and were out on the road by 11. We stopped at the golden arches in St. Francis for some wi-fi to find a warm shower for the night. It's a good thing we stopped when we did because not too long after, Hannah got a call back...she got the job! It couldn't have come at a better time too because Honey Boo Boo gotta have some money to do her bikin' with! And as the wise one says "that dolla make me holla, honey boo boo". Holla we did in the Mickey Dees. Nothing could get our psych level down until we entered the big city of Minneapolis.

Now Minneapolis is ranked the second most biker friendly state in the U.S., Seattle being first, but it was hard navigating through their bike trails and streets. Maybe it was just us. Luckily our warm showers host Jenny called when she did and another biker came to our rescue and was kind enough to personally take us to our destination. We were so happy to see Jenny and she welcomed us with open arms. We decided to live the big city life and take a rest day which consisted of walking around to local bakeries and co-ops. We had an amazing salad with Jenny and Dean later with greens grown from their very own organic garden. There was talk about the new Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom and how it was done so well. So Hannah and I along with Dean rode our bikes to the local theater and caught the late night showing. It is now one of my favorites. Go see it!

After relishing in our rest day we set out for a campground a little outside of Afton. We went through Stillwater. Cute town with an amazing library. We found it though...the hill that made me get off my bike and push. We biked into camp and checked in with the host where he told us "y'all better hide your food well 'cause them damn racoons will sure as hell get it". Well at 4 a.m. I woke up and spotlighted a few rumaging through my snacks! After a minute of yelling "hey, get out of there, hey!" Hannah finally awoke from her slumber,  fumbled out of the tent, took her "Stick" and slammed it on the picnic table. We went back to sleep laughing at my helplessness.

We cut over to Wisconsin for a bit and experienced some mid-day heat. It was a scorcher! The humidity made our sunscreen useless too. In fact it was so hot Hannah had to frequently stop to pick up the pounds I was dropping. Ha! We went through the awesome town of Red Wing and ended the day in Wabasha with a double scoop to share.

The question now is...do we go off route and cut through Wisconsin, America's Dairyland (that has ice cream written all over it) or stay on route through Iowa?

Cheers!

Chloe

Mini-Soda

It seems that Hannah has been occupying most of this blog so I’ll relieve y’all for a bit.

Here are some facts about Minnesota:

• Pronounced “behg” not “bag” and not “out” but “oot”.
• The state with a thousand lakes. All of which are swarming with mosquitoes.
• State Fish: Walleye. That being said, I intend on finding me a fish fry to hit up.
• State Flower: Pink and White Lady’s Slipper. I’m sure I’ll find Hannah off taking pictures of it.
• Hard to find some high quality H20! 

Our entry into the North Star State was a bit more stressful than we had hoped for. In order to get the full jist of how these events came to be I’m going to give you little background info.

For the past few weeks Hannah has experienced four flat tires, two of which were both in the same day. She rides on WTB All-Terrain(asaurus) tires and rode on them her whole trip last summer. She raved and raved about them so of course our whole family had to furnish our bikes with no other tire but the WTB All-Terrains. Since my bike is sport specific the wheel forks are smaller and there wasn’t a size small enough that would fit. So I had to make due with some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. They don’t have a lot of grip or aren’t as beefy as the WTB’s (which make gravel roads and any other loose sand/gravel my arch nemesis, as I’m sure you read in the last post). Anyway, after all of these flat tires Hannah has been experiencing, we’ve re-evaluated and decided that little ol’ Schwalbe is a quality tire. There’s more…as a courtesy to riding close together it’s the leaders’ job to point out potholes, glass, metal objects that could make you eat it, etc. So whenever Hannah is leading and points out an object sometimes I just don’t have enough time to move or I’ll just go over it, Schwalbe style. Nothing I know the Schwalbes can’t handle though. Now you’re well informed for me to continue…

We crossed the Red River which is the border of North Dakota and Minnesota. We’re about fifteen miles out of Fargo, riding along this really nice state highway with a great shoulder. Well there were some evenly spaced tiny unavoidable bumps and after about two miles I heard a loud “pop”. This wasn’t the kind of “pop” that I knew my tire made after I just went over a small pebble or a piece of bark it was like an oh fudge “pop”. My back wheel immediately started to wobble but it wasn’t flat. I stopped, unloaded my panniers, and flipped the Phoenix to get a better idea of what was going on. We spun the wheel and it was rubbing against the fork…I had un-trued my wheel. Or so we thought. A quick call and we soon found out that I had a broken spoke but luckily no cracked rim. There are two things that could have made this happen: I’ve been eating way too much ice cream or Schwalbe can’t handle as much as I thought. I don’t know which one I want to believe. I just wanted to keep riding and not turn back but the next bike shop was a good two days ride and the likelihood of breaking another spoke was definitely possible. So we caught a ride back into town by a kind Minnesotan, Dave. He was kind enough to take a detour on his way to go fish (a very popular sport. We’ve found leeches and bait at almost every convenience store) at the lake. As it turns out when I was getting my spoke fixed, Hannah was doing some maintenance work as well…changing her fifth flat.

After all of the running around we picked back up where we left off and celebrated our crossing into a new state the only way we saw fit…a pineapple strawberry old fashioned soda. We then set out for Pelican Rapids which was a very cute town but in order to get there we had to go through a construction area. Just my luck, loose sand and dirt roads for three miles. We got about half a mile in before it got too deep and I was fish-tailing all over the place. We ended up walking/pushing the bikes but were able to get back on once the construction ended. We found a little treasure in Pelican Rapids, besides the world’s largest Pelican, Kettle Corn! Hannah picked up a bag at the grocery store and we ate the whole thing that night. Well Larry’s Market saw us the next day with a bag of Angie’s Kettle Corn in each of our hands (we were asked later “what’s up with the kettle corn?” our response was “it’s sooo good”). We were recommended to take a Rails to Trail route from Fergus Falls to Sauk Centre and then catch back up with our route in Bowlus. We decided to give up the rolling hills we had the day before in exchange for nothing but a…head wind. But we found the local Cafe 116 that made it all worth it. We finally got the delicious sandwiches we were looking for and more…Beignets (ben-YAY! emphasis on the YAY). 

I think we were getting too comfortable with the tail wind we were having all throughout North Dakota because we started our last 60 miles at oh around 4 o’clock. We figured that was plenty of time to crank out some miles. Funny joke. We ended up only going 40 to camp at Chippewa Park in Brandon. 

We set out the next morning for Bowlus where we had a warm shower waiting for us with Jan (yawn, German) and Jen. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and instead of making our regular oatmeal we decided to bike 10 miles to Alexandria for breakfast where a cinnamon roll held me over until around 3 o’clock. Once we were done Hannah asked if I needed to fill up my water bottle and I said no. This struck her as odd seeing as how she had already gone through both of hers. Well for one she can drink water like a camel (seriously) and I just have not been a fan of the H2O here. So in order to quench my thirst, honey boo boo gets some of her special juice (i.e. Simply Apple juice, Bolthouse Chocolate Protein, or a crystal light packet when I can’t down the water). 

We were so glad we took the Rails to Trail route because we were completely secluded and didn’t have to worry about traffic. Around ten miles before we got to Jan and Jen’s we ran into a couple of cute kittens that we stopped and fed some tuna. They were so cute and we hated leaving them but there wasn’t a whole lot we could do except for strap them on and hope they didn’t jump off. We figured they’d be better off with a bell full of tuna. Jan and Jen met us at the local cafe Jordie’s where they found Hannah and I sharing a lemon meringue pie. I know I know…yes we were eating again but we were told that we had to go there and try their pie! Jan and Jen are avid cyclists and have taken a few week long trips themselves and aspire to one day do a cross-country tour. They even started a bike club here in Central Minnesota that has over 150 members! Very cool. We of course ate the grilled salmon, shrimp, Israeli cous cous, and salad they had waiting for us. It was all soo delicious. We sat and exchanged stories with them and their friends, Jason and Beth. Such a nice end to the day, good company and really good food. 

-Chloe (aka Honey Boo Boo Child)

Truckin' it through North Dakota

Blessings were abound at the Sacred Heart Monastery! This past Monday we rode 100 miles to Richardton North Dakota! Finally, a new state. The terrain has been much of the same but we are excited to be making progress east.  

 A little information for those at home, The  Northern Tier has been re-routed due to oil development in the northern part of the state. Along with it there has been a huge increase in traffic, especially semi-trucks which we have seen on a daily basis.  The worst we encountered was through Dickinson. There was housing construction everywhere along with truck after truck fully loaded with who knows what. Luckily we made it out of there and were welcomed with open arms to the Sacred Heart Monastery! We arrived promptly at 6:30. Just minutes before we saw a group of three cyclists traveling west! Adam, Dana, and Andrea all met through "companions wanted"  on the adventure cycling website. Before the trip they didn't even know each other, but seemed to be the best of friends.   

Back to the monastery, Sister Renee showed us to our room and gave us a tour of the entire grounds. The monastery is very involved with stewardship. It has two wind turbines that have worked to provide clean energy since 1997 along with geothermal and natural gas the monastery was very up to date on clean efficient energy. Two green thumbs up! The place was beautiful, we could see all of the prairie valley. The changing color of the sky told us there  was a storm coming. We walked and talked, saw the llamas, and the sisters would not stop feeding us home made bread! I know, life's tough. We had a wonderful night and slept very well. The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast with the sisters. Chloe and I just adored them, sister Patti gave us a really nice card and sister Kathleen blessed us and our bicycles before we left. 

Unfortunately about ten minutes after leaving the safety of the monastery we found ourselves in a rain storm. (By the way I ran into Chloe while looking at the map. She was stopped at a stop sign putting on her rain coat. The wreck did more damage to me and my bum knee, I had to laugh to keep from crying. In the end I don't think enough holy water was splashed onto my bicycle.) The storm lasted   all day and really slowed our progress. After riding in the down pour for over two hours we took a break in a rest stop area. It turned out to be a nice break but we dreaded going back outside into the cold. However, I was looking forward to the warm showers host we contacted but wondering how will I ever get there?? Oh wait,  that's what I have legs and a bicycle for…  

So we waited for a break in the storm and got back in the saddle. A few more hours ticked by and just when I thought   I had enough there was Bob! He pulled over in his pickup  (I have learned there is apparently a difference between the words pickup and truck) and said "you must be the cyclists!" I cannot begin to explain how happy I was to see him. We made it to Bob and Kathy's house just outside of Bismarck. I was so relieved and happy to be inside for the rest of the storm.  

We showered and got ourselves cleaned up while Kathy made dinner. We ate a delicious pasta dinner with salad, cheese, and Kathy's homemade bread. Bob and Kathy were so much fun to visit with! They are both  avid cyclists and just finished a weekend touring around Turtle Mountain. After talking about bicycles, life, school, and traveling Kathy asked us if we would like some ice cream for dessert. I said " Kathy, I never turn down ice cream!" She also treated us to chokecherry syrup and homemade green tomato jelly! Delicious! Well what started out as one scoop for me slowly turned into three bowls... I couldn't help myself! In my defense it was a huge tub of ice-cream, Bob and Kathy would have never finished it on their own. I was merely helping. It's funny because the ice cream started to melt and Kathy finally said "well I better put this away, but don't worry if you want more it's just right here in the freezer." I honestly think she was afraid to take it away from me.  We  slept very well and are so grateful for our new friends! I hope everything goes well for Bob and Kathy, they are in the process of moving right now. After they get settled into their new place I'm sure it won't be long before they go on their own grand tour! 

Bismarck to Jamestown 102 miles. Tired. Slept next to the buffalo at the Frontier Village CG.  

Next day, Jamestown to Fargo. Another 107 miles. We took a break  halfway at a rest stop, a kind lady stopped to talk with us about our trip. She left and came back with $10 and said "here girls buy yourselves a treat later." So nice! Chloe was mapping and decided I-94 was to busy to stay on. She found an alternate County Road 10 for us to cycle on. It's strange how roads look so nice on a map but then you reach  them and find out they are just a gravel stretch of rock nothing! Chloe's favorite. Although I have to admit it made me laugh on  the inside that she chose this terrific terrain for us to cross. Only because earlier in the week  I took us through a gravel stretch of road so I could see a wetlands and bird refuge! She really enjoyed that detour.  Continuing on the dirt road was only 10 miles long. We finally reached Fargo at 3:00 p.m and had plenty of time to walk downtown and explore the city! A great way to end our day.   

Next up Minnesota!  

Thanks for keeping up with us!  

-Hannah

Sun's out, Gun's out!

Hey everyone, quick update. A few days ago we left our Pa (aka the Anchor) in East Glacier. That morning we all rode through the park together and had a great time taking pictures and laughing around Two Medicine Lake. The day ended sadly as we rode off to Cut Bank and Pa caught the Amtrak back to Spokane. We parted ways, Chloe and I both cried under our sun glasses as we rode our bicycles down the road. This time with no Papa. It was a sad feeling to know we were no longer a traveling gypsy family, now it was just the two of us. Me and sissy. Suddenly the trip seemed a little more daunting. Luckily I'm doing this with my best friend, the girl with lightening legs!  Cut Bank to a city park in Chester. Met Sarge Holmes and he watched us eat dinner for over and hour. Told us "it's a damn miracle the two of you aren't huge with as much food as you pack!" Thanks. I guess. Sarge cursed like a sailor but shared some good stories, we enjoyed listening. That night we didn't sleep very well because we kept hearing weird noises. We left our clothes out to dry and were paranoid somebody was going to try and take them.  Woke up the next morning, accidentally took one of Chloe's shoes. I wore it until she told me it was hers, I thought it felt a little big.  Rode bicycle to Havre. Stayed in a college dorm. No parties. Lame. Oh but there was one eventful moment during the night. After finishing dinner we realized we didn't have dessert! Luckily I noticed a DQ on our way into town. I'm sure you can guess where this is going. Late night ice cream run by bicycle!! I know, I know, it's nine o'clock, starting to rain, and 48 degrees outside. But let me just be completely honest here, there is very little that will stop me from getting ice cream once I have made up my mind! Yummy! Riding home in the rain was not that fun. After all the excitement it was time for bed. 92 miles from Havre to Malta. So much prairie land! Everything is so flat. But really, the crop circles I spot way off in the distance keep things interesting.  From Malta we went another 70 miles to Glasgow. We were so fortunate to meet Pastor Dan, Barbara, and their foster children Kimacia, Billy, and Curtis. They were such a wonderful family! We ate dinner with them and they were kind enough to let us use the shower and stay the night in the church.  Before we left that morning Barbara said a prayer for us and wished us luck on the rest of our journey, it was very touching!   Rode 108miles to Circle. There was absolutely nothing in Circle.  Next day to Wibeaux, we stayed in a deserted RV park.  Ok now that I have finished with this post I realize it was not that quick of an update.  P.S I desperately need to do some laundry.  -Hannah

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Waking up in Glacier National Park was definitely bittersweet. It was a thrill to bicycle around the park the day before and enjoy all the natural life! We even met another cyclist in camp, Dylan! He is riding his bicycle to his brothers wedding in New York. Dylan is a recent grad and teacher in the San Fransisco area. He knows a great deal about literature, wears a well kept brown beard, and can pound a chili burger in no time. To put it simply, he is a man's man. But even Dylan will agree that our day riding together was nothing but cold (38 degrees) mixed with a rain that chilled us all to the bone. The forecast called for scattered showers, but we experienced much more than that. We packed up our wet gear and move onto a small town called Essex. The rain just continued to pour. I wanted to cry. Especially because I have been having some trouble shifting my gears and the bicycle is not functioning, trust me it's not an operator error. On top of that Chloe and Pops put me to break the wind in front! I was trying so hard to keep a good pace but my legs were cold and tired. So there I was, a soggy mess and my feet were wet spinning out of control, going nowhere. Then, all of a sudden who pulls up to my side with a little smile on her face, not breaking a sweat? Little Osoita, she came to save the day! It was great, or at least better, considering our circumstance. That is until Papa got a flat tire.

The sun finally started to break through the clouds. Right on cue I  was prompted into song with Annie's the sun will come out tomorrow, our day was beginning to turn around. Chloe was so far ahead of me and Papa, in what she calls " the zone". I on the other hand call it hallin' ass for no apparent reason. As I rode around the bend trying to catch up I realized my efforts were worthless and decided it would be a lot more fun to identify flowers on the side of the road. So I stopped. After a few minutes of frolicking in the flowers I noticed  something peculiar, there was no Pops coming around the corner. I waited, still nothing. Regretfully I decided to turn around and go find him. I only say this because I had just finished climbing a hill. Against the wishes of my legs, which were telling me to stay put, I convinced myself it was the right thing to do. 

It's a scary thing when you loose your Papa. Just like when you loose anything, all of these bad thoughts creep into your mind. I thought to myself "oh no where is that little old man, surely he didn't fall into another ditch, what if he hurt himself, or fell over into the road, great, how am I supposed to find him..." Just then I saw something move, but it was low in the brush and still too far away to make out any detail of the object. As I got closer I realized it was moving, slowly, it was curiously hunkered down in this fetal position. All of a sudden I saw it! A wild Pa! Cute lil' guy was sitting in the grass fixing his flat tire. I said "hey, there you are, I started to worry. Oh by the way I have no idea where Chloe is, probably at the halfway cabin with a hot chocolate in hand because that little girl don't wait for no one!" We laughed, not too much time passed before we saw  Chloe riding back. Yay! All together again. Just then our cycling buddy Dylan rolled up and we all rode together! He is such a cool guy, so friendly, and it's nice to know that someone else is on the trail with you. 

We made it to our cabin just outside of Essex. Dylan went ahead to camp at another site. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. 

Oh wait. Except for the Grizzly Bear that we saw only  30 feet away from our cabin!! Yes it was that close. It was the first time Chloe and I have ever seen a bear in the wild! It was such an amazing animal. So big and so brown! Pa said it was a juvie. For being young it still looked to weigh about 400 pounds! It's funny because for the past two days we have been camping in the park and Osoita refuses to put her food and bags away into a bear box. She insists that "bears are nocturnal, they won't come out this early, I have nothing to worry about." Oh was she so wrong. I am now completely in love with bears. We watched our grizzly friend until he retreated into the woods. 

Five minutes later Chloe and I decided it was time to check out the country store and re-stock our depleting food storages. I joked around "better bring the bear spray, just in case." We started walking and I was stopped dead in my tracks. I grabbed Chloe's arm as she said "what, what?" There in the road right in front of us was the same juvie bear! It was a little scary to see the bear right in the open. It didn't pay us any attention and continued to cross the road. I later learned more about the grizzly bear. It's fascinating because the juvie bear we saw was about two years old, sometime last winter Mama bear  kicked out our furry friend because she had a new cub.Folks around here call the new born bear "cub of the year", and the older  bear a "yearling". When Mama bear "dens up" and has her new cub of the year, she doesn't wanna be crowded by all them kids! As a solution she kicks out the yearling. They no longer live or hibernate together. Poor little guy. That's all for now!

Hannah

Glacier National Park

It has been brought to my attention that Chloe and I have fallen behind on our blog post. To all of our dedicated followers,  I apologize. Good, now that is out of the way we can pick up where we left off!

 Where was I? Oh that's right, at a bakery of course!!  However, this was no ordinary bakery. The Pine Street Bakery in Sandpoint Idaho provided much more than just a warm welcome after a day of cycling in the soggy rain. Can you say calories!! My goodness it was like this ethereal bakery popped out of nowhere and sweetly called my name, it whispered "oh Hannah... we have delicious cookies, everything bagels, lemon drop cookies, hiker oat cake bars, rhubarb streusel bars, and bear claws, all for you to enjoy..." How could I resist?? My defenses were completely down and I was hit hard, hit with this confectioners sugar bomb! Literally I ordered, and my tastebuds indulged in every treat listed above. That's right, I ate it all.  And I'm proud if it! My moment of weakness was so completely perfect. I will never regret it, or be shocked by the cavities which come in result to my little sweet tooth problem! (They all say the first step to recovery is admitting you haves problem).  This bakery experience would not have been possible without the sugar genius of Deirdre. Thank you for creating a beautiful bakery full of happiness! I would also like to wish Deirdre good luck, she is embarking on a new and very exciting journey. She will soon follow her musical heart and become a master pianist and tuner through an artistic school in Boston! Buenas suerte Deirdre! 

After recovering from my sugar coma, last Friday. Papa, Chloe, and I rode together once again through the rain, to a cabin around Lake Koocanosa. After arriving Chloe and I went off for a walk, somehow I ended up wandering into the bar (just out of curiosity of course). There I met two wonderful Canadian friends, Gary and Pam. The night only got better from there!

We were just about to settle in for the night when Pam knocked on our door and invited us to have dinner with her and Gary. We were  finishing our own dinner and watching Grease, but there was no way we would  turn down another meal and some friendly company! So we followed Pam over to a dinner of grilled vegetables, mint greens salad, and grilled chicken. Que rico!  Pam and Gary were taking a well deserved  holiday and  traveling on Harley's. Very cool. As the night went on Gary was finally able to persuade Pops (papas nickname, courtesy of G&P) to " let his hair down"! We moved our entire party to the waterfront and decided to have a fire because as Gary put it in perfect Canadian, "any dick on the block can have a fire, I want one with a lake front view!"  And so we did just that.  All five of us moved to the water and enjoyed a warm fuego together while watching the sunset fade behind the lake. It was such an incredible view! 

The following day was finally sunny, unfortunately it didn't last long. The weather on our trip so far has been very fickle. For example, we will have one day of perfect riding weather, with warm temperatures and clear skies. Then, next thing we know our dream day is followed by a two or three day spell of nothing but rain and cold. Not so pleasant. Luckily, yesterday (6/7) was filled with warmth and sunshine as we peddled into Glacier National Park! The glaciers here are magnificent! The landscape is honestly breathtaking. Unfortunately the glaciers are rapidly shrinking. Dan Forge, the U.S Geological Survey's resident climate watcher has stated "there were once 150 glaciers in the park. Now, there are 26 left, and we expect them all to be gone by 2030." I know earlier I mentioned how wet the weather has been, but truly we  are experiencing an increasingly dry climate. It's extremely evident when one considers the lack of ice and glacial presence on earth today. Thank you. Now, I am off of my soap box and everyone should come and see Glacier National Park before it melts away!!

Cycle-Happy,

Hannah